NEW DELHI: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Thursday of what use will be the Kartarpur corridor if Pakistan continues to support cross-border terrorism against India.
Puri, who represented the Indian government at the groundbreaking ceremony of the corridor, said while Kartarpur was a "corridor of hope and goodwill" it cannot be insulated from the ground reality.
The corridor links Darbar Sahib in Pakistan - the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak - with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur.
"The fact of the matter is that the ground reality is characterised by one state using terror as an instrument of policy against a neighbouring state," he said here on the sidelines of the Cement Manufacturers Association of India's annual convention here.
Puri, the Union minister of state of Housing and Urban Affairs (independent charge), also said,"Now what use of the corridor would be, if these kind of acts of terrorism or elements which are committed to creating trouble (continue)."
Reiterating the government's stand on dialogue with Pakistan, he said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has already gone "on record that terror and talks do not make a good companion".
"So you cannot have talks when the other side (Pakistan) has terror," Puri said.
He also cautioned against the blind euphoria over the corridor, saying that "all I have to say is, let us build on this and its goodwill on both sides".
"If you can see reduction or curtailment of terror, which is unleashed on us all the time, yes (then) it could become a corridor of hope," Puri said.
Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan is located across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine.
It was established by the Sikh Guru in 1522.
The corridor will facilitate visa-free movement of Indian Sikh pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur.